''Stenogobius hawaiiensis'', the Naniha goby, is a species of
goby endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
to the
Hawaiian Islands
The Hawaiian Islands ( haw, Nā Mokupuni o Hawai‘i) are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kur ...
where it can be found in marine, brackish and fresh waters. This species is not as adept a climber as are many other Hawaiian gobies and thus is not found in the upper reaches of streams. This species can reach a length of
SL.
In the
Hawaiian language
Hawaiian (', ) is a Polynesian language of the Austronesian language family that takes its name from Hawaii, the largest island in the tropical North Pacific archipelago where it developed. Hawaiian, along with English, is an official language o ...
, it is also known as O'opu naniha. It feeds on invertebrates such as worms,
crustacea
Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean gro ...
ns and insects as well as algae. It is preyed upon by birds such as the
black-crowned night-heron
The black-crowned night heron (''Nycticorax nycticorax''), or black-capped night heron, commonly shortened to just night heron in Eurasia, is a medium-sized heron found throughout a large part of the world, including parts of Europe, Asia, and ...
(''Nycticorax nycticorax'') as well as native fishes such as ''
Caranx
''Caranx'' is a genus of tropical to subtropical marine fishes in the jack family Carangidae, commonly known as jacks, trevallies and kingfishes. They are moderate- to large-sized, deep-bodied fishes which are distinguished from other carangid g ...
spp.'', ''
Polydactylus sexfilis
''Polydactylus sexfilis'', the six-finger threadfin or yellowthread threadfin, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a threadfin from the family Polynemidae which is found in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
Description
''Polydactylus sexfilis'' ...
'' and ''
Sphyraena barracuda
''Sphyraena barracuda'', commonly known as the great barracuda, is a species of barracuda: large, predatory ray-finned fish found in subtropical oceans around the world.
Distribution and habitat
The great barracuda is present in tropical to warm ...
''.
Invasive alien fish such as
mosquito fish
The western Mosquitofish (''Gambusia affinis'') is a North American freshwater fish, also known commonly, if ambiguously, as simply Mosquitofish or by its generic name, ''Gambusia'', or by the common name gambezi. Its sister species, the easte ...
and game species threaten the populations of ''S. hawaiiensis'' by bringing new diseases and parasites and by predating on their eggs and fry.
[ They may also be threatened by alteration of their habitat by humans such as abstraction, pollution and damming but not to as great an extent as these factors affect other native Hawaiian freshwater fish, there is also some fishing for this species.][
This species displays ]sexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most ani ...
and undertakes elaborate courtship behaviours.
References
hawaiiensis
Freshwater fish of Hawaii
Taxa named by Ronald E. Watson
Fish described in 1991
{{Gobiiformes-stub